S<\/span>everal years ago I had a client who was really \u201chigh maintenance.\u201d This was someone with unreasonable expectations of me and my company.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, I didn\u2019t see that on the front end. I was too focused on the supposed opportunity<\/a>. As you can imagine, it didn\u2019t take long to find out we had a problem.<\/span><\/p>\n As we closed out the first thirty days, I sat down with the client and a few of his staff members to review our progress. I had worked hard\u2014more than the size of the account warranted\u2014in an effort to exceed his expectations. I was sure I had hit it out of the park.<\/p>\n Not so much.<\/p>\n The client was very unhappy. Not only did he not praise me for what I had accomplished, he didn\u2019t even acknowledge it. He focused exclusively<\/em> on what I hadn\u2019t done. Talk about the-glass-is-half-empty. I was stunned.<\/p>\n But here\u2019s where it gets interesting. A few years later that same client came back to me and practically begged me to take him back. Stupid me. I did. (I\u2019m not proud of it.)<\/p>\n I naively thought this second time would be different.<\/p>\n He\u2019s changed,<\/em> I told myself. I even assured my staff\u2014and my wife\u2014that he had changed. Besides<\/em>, I reasoned, I have also changed. I\u2019m a better manager this time around.<\/em><\/p>\n I was wrong on both counts.<\/p>\n The client had not changed. He was still the unreasonable, demanding tyrant he had always been. Yes, he could still turn on the charm when he needed to, but fundamentally, he was a narcissist. Nothing I could do\u2014or could ever do\u2014would change him. It was all about him.<\/p>\n But I hadn\u2019t changed that much either. I am pretty good at creativity and execution, but I am not super human. I had not suddenly acquired dazzling new powers. In fact, in some relational experiences like this, I am admittedly a slow learner.<\/p>\n Regardless, here\u2019s what I distilled from that second experience:<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean to sound unkind, but there are just some people you are not<\/em> called to serve. You can spend all your time caught up in the drama of their demands and accusations, or you can move on.<\/p>\n The sooner you cut the cord and fire them<\/a>, the more productive\u2014and happy\u2014you\u2019ll be. No matter how big the opportunity appears to be, it\u2019s just not worth the maintenance involved.<\/p>\n\n